Furniture-supporting foot.



R. CLARK.

FURNITURE SUPPORTING FOOT.

I'IL

Patented Apr. 13, 1909.

llll I:

ROSELL CLARK, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

FURNITURE-SUPPORTING FOOT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 1, 1908.

Patented April 18, 1909.

Serial No. 424,558.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RosELL CLARK, a citizen of the United States,residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State ofMinnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inFurniture-Supporting Feet; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

My invention has for its object to provide a simple and eflicientsupporting foot adapt ed to be used as a substitute for a caster; and tothis end it consists of the novel devices and combinations of deviceshereinafter described and defined in the claims.

Casters, as is well known, when used to support bedsteads, dressers, andvarious other articles of furniture, very greatly mar polished floors;and, in fact, any hard, even though smooth, surface used for the abovepurpose, will scratch and dent or otherwise mar a polished hardwoodfloor or a painted floor for that matter.

My invention provides an extremely simple, cheap and eflicient footadapted to support various articles of furniture on a polished floorwithout in any way n'iarring the same.

The improved device is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, whereinlike characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view, showing the improvedfoot, and Fig. 2 is a view party in side elevation and partly invertical section, showing the improved foot in operative position.

The numeral 1 indicates a truncated conical block of hardwood, having anaxial pasin which is seated the lower end of a metal spindle 2. Thespindle 2 is rigidly secured in the conical block 1 and has a shoulder 3that bears directly on the reduced upper end of said block. Above theshoulder 3 the spindle is tapered in an upwardly direction, preferablyon a slightly curved line.

To the flat bottom surface of the conical block 1 a heavy disk-likeplate 4 of sole felt is secured, preferably by glue or cement. Thetapered portion of the spindle 3 forms a continuation of the taperedexterior surface of the block 1.

The numeral 5 indicates the leg of a wooden bedstead, the same havingthe usual axial seat 6, for the reception of the customary castersocket, which latter will not be used in the application of my improvedfoot. Ihe seat 6 of the ordinary woodenbedstead leg is small as comparedwith the opening usually found in the lower end of the leg of an ironbed. Furthermore, the openings in the legs of iron beds, as well as theseats in the legs of wooden beds, vary a great deal in size.

In applying the foot to the leg of a wooden bed, a metal washer 7 of therequired size is slipped onto the tapered portion of the metal spindle2, so that it becomes a stop 01' rest flange on the spindle for limitingthe insertion of the tapered end of the spindle into the seat of thesaid leg. In Fig. 2 a portion of the leg of an iron bed is indicated bydotted lines and designated by the numeral 8. In applying the foot toone of these iron legs the lower end ofthe leg will almost alwaystelescope onto the tapered portion of the foot so far that it willengage with the tapered surface of the conical block 1. It will thus beseen that the tapered foot is capable of application to almost any kindof a bedstead leg or to almost any kind or any article of furniture,regardless of the size of the receiving socket or seat providedtherefor, or which may be already found in the said article.

It is very important that the body portion of the foot be constructed ofwood or other fibrous or non-metallic material because, to preventscratching or marring of the floor, the sole felt disk or hearing plateshould be secured to the foot by means of cement or adhesive material.

It is important to note that the improved foot is not a true cone, buthas an approximately conical form, being tapered upward on inwardlyconcave lines so as to form an extended spindle of small enough diameterand of sufficient length to enter to a considerable extent into a smallseat in the leg of a bed-stead, or other piece or furniture. This ispractically the only way of providing a furniture supporting foot thatwill fit in all of the various sizes of perforations or seats found inbed-steads, and other articles of furniture where casters are usuallyapplied.

hat I claim is:

1. A furniture foot comprising a truncated conical body portion of woodor nonmetallic fibrous material, and a metallic stem axially seated insaid truncated body,

the said stem having a shoulder resting on the engaged upper end of saidbody, and being tapered above said shoulder to con tinue the taperedform of said body, substantially as described.

2. A furniture foot comprising a truncated wooden body portion 1 havinga felt pad or disk 4: secured to its bottom, and a metal spindle or stem2 axially seated in said body 1, and having a shoulder 3 bearing on theloose upper end thereof, the said stem or spindle being tapered abovesaid shoulder to continue the taper of said body 1, substantially asdescribed.

3. A tapered furniture foot, the outer surface of which, has a concavelongitudinal taper, so that it is formed with an expanded base, and withan extended stem of very greatly reduced taper and diameter capable ofbeing inserted into a seat or socket such as found in the legs ofbedsteads.

4. A tapered furniture foot, the outer surface of which, has a concavelongitudinal taper, so that it is formed with an expanded base, and withan extended stem of very greatly reduced taper and diameter capable ofbeing inserted into a seat or socket such as found in the legs ofbedsteads, the said base portion being in one material and the said stembeing in another material, and the said i parts being rigidly united.

In testimony whereof l' affix my signature in presence of two wltnesses.

ROSE-LL CLARK.

Witnesses V H. D. KILGORE, F. D. MERonANT.

